Spandau Ballet set for Dublin as hell set for cold snap

They bought a ticket to the world; now they've come back again. New Romantic stalwarts and 1980s heart throbs Spandau Ballet are reforming for the first time in 20 years and their first concert will be at the O2 in Dublin on October 13th.

The band made the heavily-trailed announcement yesterday on board the HMS Belfastin London where they started out nearly 30 years ago.

Spandau Ballet scored 17 top 40 hits in the UK during the 1980s including their best known songs "Gold" and "True" but split up in 1989 when their last album flopped and the Kemp brothers, Gary and Martin, embarked on a film career.

Though the public appetite for 1980s music seems to grow as that decade recedes in time, few expected Spandau Ballet ever to reform.

Only two years ago lead singer Tony Hadley said "hell would freeze over" before he would get on stage with songwriter Gary Kemp. In 1999, Hadley and fellow band members Steve Norman and John Keeble took a court case against Kemp for unpaid royalties. They lost, leaving the three men broke. Kemp said it was like "walking away from a car crash".

Yesterday, all five appeared relaxed in each other's company with Hadley saying that "time was the great healer".

He also displayed a rather hazy knowledge of geography saying that the band were "embarking on a British tour in October and then on to the rest of the world" neglecting to mention their first concert is in Dublin and the second is in Belfast.

Hadley ought to know that Ireland is not part of the UK as the band spent part of their time here during their heyday to avail of Ireland's generous tax regime for artists.

Martin Kemp compared the band's relationship with that of a family. "Families go through terrible times sometimes and they argue," he said.

Kemp, who went on to even greater fame as a villain in EastEnders, did not have fond memories of his time in Dublin once calling it a "green hole".

Tickets for the O2 concert go on sale on April 2nd.